Fresh Eating, Preserving, and Planning for Small Spaces

We’ve covered a good number of considerations that you should make when planning what, when, and where to grow.

In this final article, we’ll explore ways to manage yields, store food and herbs, and offer tips for gardening in tight spaces. We’ll also discuss planting strategies, storage techniques, and ways to keep your harvest fresh longer, whether you’re in a small apartment, a large backyard, or somewhere in between.

Eating Fresh vs Storing

It’s important to consider how you’ll use your harvest. As mentioned in the earlier parts of this series, staggering your planting dates and growing multiple varieties can help ensure a consistent supply of fresh produce throughout the season. This works especially well for tender crops like lettuce that have a short storage life and don’t freeze well.

Many herbs can be dried, and vegetables like carrots and onions can be chopped and frozen—or stored fresh—for cooking year-round. Canning is also a great way to preserve crops such as beetroot and tomatoes.

Helpful Guides:

• Storing Herbs - by Samantha
• A Guide to Canning - by Jessalyn
• Storing Veg (without a root cellar) - by Jared

Storing produce over the winter means growing more at the right time. If you live in a cold climate, remember that food consumption typically rises during the winter months (around 10-30%), so if your goal is to be self-sufficient from your garden, this is an important consideration.

Staggered Planting and Storage

Let’s use carrots as an example.

In the garden bed, I have 1 3ft row of carrots planned. They’re planted next to beans and onions, which are companion plants, so they can share nutrients, and keep pests and diseases to a minimum, which should give a better harvest. The carrots are eventually replaced by kale, which can overwinter and handle the cold weather better.

To plan how much to plant, I created a table:

With the Planter app, you can easily map out your garden and ensure proper spacing between plants. The app suggests planting 16 Danvers per square foot–up to 48 per 3ft row (3 ft x 1 ft)– helping you optimize your garden space for healthy growth.

Small Spaces

If you’re short on space, container gardening is a powerful solution. Pots work well on balconies, patios, or anywhere with limited ground. Many herbs, alliums, and even compact vegetables thrive in containers.

With some care and attention, many crops—from potatoes to strawberries—can thrive in pots. Container gardening also gives you the freedom to get creative with layering and plant combinations. Since space and nutrients are limited, choosing good companion plants is especially important.

A few 10-gallon pots on a balcony or patio can yield a surprisingly generous harvest, especially with succession planting. For example, you could start with a quick crop of green onions or chives, then transplant strawberries into the same pot once the first crop is harvested.

Overwintering Crops

Some crops can survive the winter and start producing again early the next season. Others, like garlic, are planted in the fall and harvested the following summer. Cold-hardy vegetables like kale, spinach, and certain carrots can survive in the ground through frost, especially with a little protection like mulch or row covers. Overwintering gives you a head start on spring and makes the most of your space year-round. Just be sure to know your hardiness zone and choose varieties that can handle the cold in your area.

In this garden, everything except the Zinnia will overwinter quite nicely where I live. The turnips will also replenish a lot of soil nutrients and improve the health of the garden bed for the year to come.

The Other Plants in the Bed

We’ve discussed most of the plants in our example bed so far, and the ones we haven’t, follow the ideas we’ve discussed in this series.

• The onions are planted in succession for a longer harvest, and then replaced with zinnias
• The beans are a determinate variety; I prefer eating beans during cooler months, so one large harvest where I dry them all out is fine for me. These are then replaced with turnips for overwintering.
• The cucumbers will mature in mid-summer, and then be replaced with transplanted okra, which will handle the late summer and fall weather with no difficulty.

Yields

You may not know exactly how much to plant the first year, so keeping notes and logs is useful. Note what varieties grow well, how long they took to grow, how long they kept in the ground, stored in the fridge, etc., to help you carefully plan next year’s harvest. Additionally, you can estimate many varieties by looking at the per-plant yield. We’ve linked some good resources below to help you.

• Cornell Yield Guide
• Michigan State Extension
• UC Master Gardener Program
• Penn State Extension

Other Considerations

Crop Rotation

Planting the same crop in the same spot year after year depletes soil nutrients. Rotating crops helps maintain healthy soil and reduces pest issues. Use the Planter app to track what’s planted where and plan your rotations.

Determinate vs. Indeterminate

Determinate plants (like some tomatoes and beans) produce all at once—great for preserving, but potentially overwhelming. Indeterminate varieties yield steadily over time, ideal for fresh eating. Knowing the type helps you plan harvest timing and storage needs.

Recording Information

Tracking your garden’s performance helps you grow smarter each season. Key things to note:

• What worked (and didn’t): Which varieties thrived? Which ones struggled or weren’t worth the effort? 
• Yields vs. expectations: Did you get more or less than you thought? Were there any surprises? 
• Care needs: Which plants required the most attention, and were they worth it?
• Over– or under-planted: Did you grow too much of something? Not enough? 
• Pests, weather & timing: Jot down issues like late frosts, drought, or recurring pest problems, plus when each crop actually matured.

At the Harvest

There’s a lot to consider when planning how much to grow. It’s unlikely you’ll have a perfect garden your first year, but keeping track of everything will set you up for success.

Planting crops in succession, or staggering them by time or variety, can extend your harvest and give you plentiful amounts of produce throughout the year.

Whatever you choose to garden, remember to enjoy it.

Best of luck!